Verb

To reduce slightly; to cut; especially, to remove excess; e.g. 'trim a hedge', 'trim a beard'. The adposition of can be used in present perfect tense to designate the removed part.

(present perfect example)

To decorate or adorn; especially, to decorate a Christmas tree.

* Milton

A rotten building newly trimmed over.

* Shakespeare

I was trimmed in Julia's gown.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […]  The bed was the most extravagant piece.  Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.}}

(nautical) To modify the angle of a vessel to the water by shifting cargo or ballast; to adjust for sailing; to assume, or cause a vessel to assume, a certain position, or trim, in the water. (FM 55-501).

* 1883 ,

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more evenly.

(nautical) To modify the angle of a vessel's sails relative to the wind, especially to set the sails to the most advantageous angle.

(dated) To balance; to fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each.

To make trim; to put in due order for any purpose; to make right, neat, or pleasing; to adjust.

* Goldsmith

The hermit trimmed his little fire.

(carpentry) To dress (timber); to make smooth.

(dated) To rebuke; to reprove; also, to beat.

Verb

(en verb)

(lb) To remove obstructions or impediments from.

*1715–8 , (Matthew Prior), “Alma: or, The Progre?s of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occa?ions (1741), canto III, p.297:

*:Faith, Dick, I mu?t confe?s, ?tis true // (But this is only Entre Nous ) // That many knotty Points there are, // Which All di?cu?s, but Few can clear .

*(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)

*:A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=7 citation , passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared .

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear' its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to ' clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}

(lb) To become freed from obstructions.

:

*

*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,.

(lb) To eliminate ambiguity or doubt from a matter; to clarify; especially, to clear up.

(lb) To remove from suspicion, especially of having committed a crime.

:

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:Iam sure he will clear me from partiality.

*(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)

*:Wouldst thou clear rebellion?

(lb) To pass without interference; to miss.

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(lb) To become clear.

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(lb) Of a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.

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To earn a profit of; to net.

:

* (1800-1859)

the profit which she cleared on the cargo

(lb) To obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.

To disengage oneself from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.

*1613 , (Francis Bacon), (second edition), essay 18: “ Of Expences”:

*:Be?ides, he that cleares' at once will relap?e: for finding him?elfe out of ?traights, he will reuert to his cu?tomes. But hee that ' cleareth by degrees, induceth an habite of frugality, and gaineth as well vpon his minde, as vpon his E?tate.

To obtain a clearance.

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(lb) To defend by hitting (or kicking, throwing, heading etc.) the ball (or puck) from the defending goal.

*{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Chris Whyatt, title=Chelsea 1-0 Bolton

, work=BBC citation , passage=Bolton then went even closer when Elmander's cross was met by a bullet header from Holden, which forced a wonderful tip over from Cech before Drogba then cleared the resulting corner off the line.}}

To fell all trees of a forest.

To reset or unset; to return to an empty state or to zero.

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